British Educational Research Journal最新文献

This study aimed to investigate the moderating effect of morphological awareness on the relationship between word detection skills and reading comprehension in Chinese children with and without dyslexia. The study included 116 Chinese children in third to sixth grades, with 60 children diagnosed with dyslexia and 56 matching typically developing children. ANCOVAs revealed significant group differences in word detection skills and morphological awareness, with children with dyslexia performing significantly worse than their typically developing peers. Partial correlation analyses showed significant correlations between reading comprehension and morphological awareness in typically developing children and between reading comprehension and both word detection skills and morphological awareness in children with dyslexia. Moderation analyses revealed that morphological awareness significantly moderated the relationship between word detection skills and reading comprehension in both groups. For typically developing children, the relationship was significant at higher levels of morphological awareness, while for children with dyslexia, the relationship was significant at lower levels of morphological awareness. The findings suggest that word detection skills may serve as a compensatory mechanism for children with dyslexia when morphological awareness is at lower levels, highlighting the need for targeted interventions and individualised approaches to reading instruction.

Athena Swan was established in 2005 with the goal of advancing the careers of women in STEMM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Medicine) subjects in higher education. Since then, it has expanded its remit in various ways and has generated some controversy. This paper explains how Athena Swan operates as a policy-scoring scheme, requiring universities to submit plans for policy improvement in order to receive a bronze, silver or gold award. We explain that the implications of rewarding plans for improvement have not been widely understood. We document Athena Swan's changing policies on sex and data collection, which for a period discouraged data collection on sex. We demonstrate the way in which activists were able to capture Athena Swan's policy development process and argue that policy-scoring schemes can lead to groupthink and pose risks to academic freedom. The outsourcing of equalities work to such schemes does not encourage evidence-based prioritisation and discussion of the needs of competing characteristics.

This study compares how the generative AI (GenAI) large language model (LLM) ChatGPT performs in grading university exams compared to human teachers. Aspects investigated include consistency, large discrepancies and length of answer. Implications for higher education, including the role of teachers and ethics, are also discussed. Three Master's-level exams were scored using ChatGPT 3.5, and the results were compared with the teachers' scoring and the grading teachers were interviewed. In total, 463 exam responses were graded. With each response being graded at least three times, a total of 1389 gradings were conducted. For the final exam scores, 70% of ChatGPT's gradings were within 10% of the teachers' gradings and 31% within 5%. ChatGPT tended to give marginally higher scores. The agreement on grades is 30%, but 45% of the exams received an adjacent grade. On individual questions, ChatGPT is more inclined to avoid very high or very low scores. ChatGPT struggles to correctly score questions closely related to the course lectures but performs better on more general questions. The AI can generate plausible scores on university exams that, at first glance, look similar to a human grader. There are differences but it is not unlikely that two different human graders could result in similar discrepancies. During the interviews, teachers expressed their surprise at how well ChatGPT's grading matched their own. Increased use of AI can lead to ethical challenges as exams are entrusted to a machine whose decision-making criteria are not fully understood, especially concerning potential bias in training data.

This paper examines the operation of the English Special Educational Needs and Disability tribunal system in relation to children who present with a dyslexia diagnosis. It identifies a number of significant weaknesses; in particular, the absence of clear diagnostic criteria capable of differentiating such children from large numbers of other struggling readers. It then explains why it is inappropriate to identify particular cognitive processes as indicating the presence of dyslexia, as distinct from a broader reading difficulty. The paper subsequently explores the erroneous nature of claims about specialised dyslexia teaching and resourcing that, while often asserted with confidence by some privately funded assessors, are not supported by the scientific literature. It is argued that the tribunal system is an inappropriate method for reconciling the competing needs of a diagnosed dyslexic subgroup in relation to the wider population of struggling readers, estimated to be 20% of the school population.

The concept of ‘professional capital’, which consists of human, social, and decisional capital, has been adopted in many countries to guide teacher development and school practice. However, more empirical research needs to be conducted to understand the concept in the Chinese context. The study investigates how teachers accumulate their professional capital in Master Teacher Studios (MTSs), a cross-school teacher professional learning community in China. The study adopts a qualitative case study approach. Interviews, observation, and document analysis were employed to collect data from 10 MTSs in Zhejiang province, China. Ten MTS hosts and 28 studio members were selected as research participants. A combination of inductive and deductive coding approaches helped identify specific practices related to the three components of professional capital. Teachers in MTSs develop their human capital with increased professional competence, professional achievements and reputations, as well as enhanced confidence and open mindsets. Regarding social capital, teachers benefit from harmonious interpersonal relationships within MTSs to win peer support, from stronger social ties to learn from experts, and access more visible opportunities to display themselves professionally. They also enhance their decisional capital in the critical areas of teaching research (jiaoyan) and leadership issues. The study reveals specific practices associated with professional capital in the Chinese context where interpersonal relationships (guanxi) and cooperation are particularly emphasised, contributing to theory development. The study also describes how teacher leaders contribute to developing teacher professional capital, which may contribute to understanding teacher-led professional learning.

A national curriculum cannot be uniformly applied in all classrooms. Educators frequently adapt the official curriculum to suit their particular circumstances. In exploring the interplay between artificial intelligence (AI) technologies and curriculum adaptation in education, this study bridges a significant gap in the literature by exploring how AI tools influence teachers' strategies for adapting curricula. Employing an explanatory sequential design, the research analyses both qualitative and quantitative data from 440 teachers, using the Curriculum Adaptation Patterns Scale and focus group semi-structured interviews. Results indicate a balanced approach among teachers towards extending and revising the curriculum, with less emphasis on omission. Notably, curriculum adaptation practices evolve positively with increased professional experience, differ across disciplines, but remain constant across school levels and educational levels. Qualitatively, teachers reported positive experiences using AI, particularly ChatGPT, to make their lessons better fit students' needs. They've used it to omit parts that aren't needed, add more relevant and personalised content, and revise or replace the content. The findings highlight AI's transformative potential in curriculum adaptation, making education more engaging, relevant and personalised. The study contributes to understanding how AI can support effective curriculum implementation and enhance learning experiences in the digital age.

Physical education has the potential to achieve the desired outcomes of alternative provision schooling by re-engaging young people in learning, supporting their social and emotional development and facilitating their reintegration into mainstream schooling. To do so, however, it requires sufficient and appropriate space because, unlike other subjects, its focus on embodied curriculum, embodied pedagogy and embodied learning requires the mind–body–self of young people to move across, within and between space(s). As such, we embrace what Soja (Seeking Spatial Justice, University of Minnesota Press, 2010) termed the ‘spatial turn’ in research and draw on the concept of spatial (in)justice to explore social, economic and environment inequalities in the education and alternative provision landscapes in England. To do so, we gathered empirical evidence via individual interviews with 13 physical education practitioners working in alternative provision schools in England. With the permission of participants, interviews were audio-recorded and audio transcribed, and the transcripts subjected to reflexive thematic analysis. We discuss spatial injustices in alternative provision physical education through the following themes: (1) accessing space for physical education off-site; (2) low expectations for appropriate space and making the most of the limited space available for physical education; and (3) weather determining usage of outside space and difficulties gaining external funding for on-site spaces. We end this article by calling on others to join our efforts to lobby government to ensure that alternative provision settings, new and old, are not exempt from the School Premises Regulations so that a clear, legally binding expectation is created so that sufficient space is provided to teach physical education.

We are at a critical moment for assessment in schools. Teachers are called to navigate advances in classroom assessment research, top-down assessment policies, and lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on teaching and learning. Embedded in this context are also systemic challenges to teachers’ assessment practice. This paper analyses these challenges to characterise the current context for teachers’ assessment work and considers teachers’ innovative responses to these challenges. Data are drawn from 168 qualitative responses to a baseline assessment innovation survey across 10 Canadian provinces and territories as well as 10 other international jurisdictions. Eight themes were identified related to teachers’ assessment challenges and innovations, including: negating innovation, the emotions of assessment, grade obsession and the gradeless spectrum, conflicting orientations towards assessment, the use of ‘assessment talk’, data overload, equitable assessment and actions that make learning and assessment visible. These findings directly support the widespread goal of implementing assessments that effectively and consistently serve student learning. The paper concludes with a discussion on how teachers move from facing assessment challenges to engaging in assessment innovations.

Using newly released detailed data on absence from school, we find a ‘Friday effect’—children are much less likely to attend schools in England on Fridays. We use daily level data across the whole of England and find that this pattern holds for different schools and for different types of absence, including illness-related authorised and unexplained unauthorised absence. The Friday absence rate is 1.5 percentage points (20%) higher relative to the rest of the week. For authorised absences, the Friday rate is 0.81 percentage points higher than that for Monday to Thursday, while for unauthorised absences it is 0.71 percentage points higher. Furthermore, we document a social gradient in the ‘Friday effect’ for unauthorised absences, where the effect is larger in more deprived areas. This is especially the case for secondary schools. Similarly, in secondary schools the ‘Friday effect’ is 51% larger in areas with the highest rates of persistent absence compared with areas with the lowest persistent absence rates. We explore reasons for the ‘Friday effect’ and do not find evidence that parents working from home explain the higher absence rate on Fridays. We do find that Friday absences are greater in weeks that precede either a bank holiday or half-term—suggesting that the extension of holidays or trying to avoid holiday traffic might go some way to explain the patterns that we find. We show that eliminating the ‘Friday effect’ could lead to an improvement of 1.15% of a standard deviation in test scores and a 0.14–0.25% increase in later life income. Tackling weekly absence patterns may therefore help to raise attainment and reduce inequalities.

How do task experiences support proximal and longer-term desires to reengage? Central to this question is the interplay between perceptions of task difficulty and the situational interest. This interplay is increasingly researched but not yet well understood. Micro-analytic, latent studies are important tools for replicating past findings and extending our understanding in this area. This study aimed to extend our understanding of the interplay between readiness (prior knowledge and individual interest), a sequence of mathematics task experiences (situational interest and perceived difficulty) and reengagement beyond the set of tasks (i.e. optional follow-up engagement). Participants (ages 20–49; n = 301) completed a series of maths tasks online, self-reporting their task experiences after each task. Participants were offered an optional opportunity to follow-up with the task content as a measure of their continued interest. Both readiness components assessed were important predictors of future situational interest (positive) and perceptions of task difficulty (negative). Persistent interconnections between the task experience components across time supported past evidence regarding the important role of situational interest and the challenges of perceived difficulty for sustained engagement. Modelling indicated that task success (β = 0.36), situational interest (β = 0.16) and perceptions of task difficulty (β = 0.21) can converge on choices to reengage with an object going forward.